...Gunderson, Linnekin, Olson and Fischer all have different ideas on how bad this new policy and how it is affecting these kids at school. Each one of these authors describes how these new implications are either wasteful or unappealing to these students. There are a lot of the public schools that are having trouble meeting these new specific requirements for the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) but it is getting more difficult to provide these meals. These new items either cost too much or they are very unappealing to the individuals who have to consume them. This is not a good thing to have these children starving from offering unappealing food items that they won’t consume. There will be many factors that play into childhood obesity and how the schools lunches will be the first...
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...Thought: Improving School Lunch Programs Clorissa Torres Lindsay Ludvigsen English 115 February 20, 2013 Schools across the nation have implemented a new breakfast & lunch program, to include healthier choices amongst children, adolescents and teens eating in their school cafeterias every day. The program was designed to allow the children attending school to receive healthy, low cost or free meals while fighting childhood obesity and hunger. The National School Lunch Program is a federally-assisted program implemented across the nation within public or non-profit private schools and day cares with children high school age & under. The program itself is costing 11.1 billion dollars to run in 2012-13 which is only 5.73 percent of the US budget. The money it is costing the US to run the program is allowing 32 million children a chance to have at least two whole meals a day, with a possible snack if they participate in a school-based after school programs. The USDA also provides the schools participating with federal cash and commodity support. The program entails that for each child who receives free lunch, the school will get $2.86 cents back, for each child who receives reduced lunch the school will get $2.46 cents back & for each child who pays for lunch the school will get $.70 cents back ; this also entails that for every snack a child receives free the school will receive $.78 cents, for every snack a child receives reduced the school will receive...
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...Lunch school programs are trying to become healthier across our nation. This initiative is becoming more common at each school due to economic and student needs. In this paper, we will look at meeting the needs of the students with a planned process. There will be two charts to show progress of the effects the changes have done to the student’s food choices. These choices were derived from the guides given by the USDA (“National School Lunch Program”, 2013). Recent changes to the schools lunch and breakfast menus has helped in keeping students more healthy and driving school cost to more efficient levels (“National School Lunch Program”, 2013). Most schools give students choices to choose their lunch or breakfast choices. While this is a common practice in most schools, students do not always choose healthy meals. The goal is to give only healthy choices to students so that they may increase their nutrition level intake. The guidelines set forth by the USDA, on the student meal index, is what will be used to assess the changes in students nutrition levels (Kay & Condon, 2012 pg 9). The first major change that needs to be done is re-asses the snack machines in the schools. Each school more than likely has one or two snack machines that are accessed by the students. The contents of the snack machines need to be changed to more health conscious items. An example is replacing sodas, or high sugar drinks, with water and low sugar juices. Each school needs to replace candy...
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...National School Nutrition Program Eboli Knight George McGeehan English Composition 115 May 21, 2015 To be healthy or to not be healthy is the question? Today kids are not always eating a healthy meal and to make up for the loss the national school lunch and school breakfast program was established. I do believe that this is a good idea to keep our kids from being obese and teaching them healthier eating options. The National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs were established to align them with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Most schools are increasing the availability of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat free and low fat fluid milk in school meals; reduce the levels of sodium, saturated fat and trans fat in meals; and meet the nutrition needs of school children within their calorie requirements,” (Federal Register, 2012). Our kids will still be able to enjoy their breakfast and lunch, it’s just a little healthier than what it used to be. To improve lunches and breakfasts, schools are required to offer fruits and vegetables as two separate meal components. Fruit daily at breakfast and lunch, vegetable daily at lunch, including specific vegetable subgroups weekly. A daily meat/ meat alternate at breakfast, fluid milk that is fat free (unflavored and flavored) and low fat (unflavored only). Students are required to select a fruit or a vegetable as part of the reimbursable meal. “The National School Lunch Program supports student nutrition in...
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...Participation in the National Lunch Program Informative Paper / Revision Juan Diego VII Becerra Strayer University ENG 115 Doctor Ronnie Davis November 16th, 2015 The National Breakfast and Lunch Program The National School Lunch Program, between many other food-for-school related Federal programs, have a direct reimbursement formula for the schools that participate in the exchange of these type of healthy meals. The more the schools do in providing better meals, the higher the reimbursement and award will be. The programs have actually improved drastically in the way it operates and how it has already demonstrated improvement into the children’s health. Child Obesity According to an American Medical Association research study in 2014 (Ogden, Carroll, Kit, Flegal), obesity has increased between 1999 and 2011 and but there has been no change between 2009 and 2011. In the US many policy changes have been made to reduce obesity since 2002 according to the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (CDC) (Brener, O'Toole, Kann, Lowry, Wechsler, 2009). Additionally, childhood obesity is an issue worldwide. Back in 2006, a British author from Guardian News, John Carvel, mentioned that junk food and lack of exercise were part of the major reasons of the childhood obesity increase in the UK. Likewise, the US has similar issues. More than one in six children in the US is obese, an overall increase from the 1970’s. This epidemic has caused...
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...given an opportunity for success for their future using the available programs that’s proven to work. Only 1 percent is not required to take a test which is the children who cannot speak fluent English. A test children must take is standardized by the state and is also known as the “teaching the test”. This test not only proves what each child does not know but what the teacher’s must focus on in order to make the children become successful for their further education learning’s. The national school lunch program. This is a program where it was very important for low income families. I believe this was a very good idea. “At the President's direction, the Food and Nutrition Service was created as a new agency within the Department of Agriculture exclusively to administer Federal food programs, including the school lunch program, and other agencies involved were directed to coordinate their activities with those of the Department of Agriculture” (Gunderson, 2013). Children with the proper food in their stomachs will help them live better and grasp what they learn every day in school. It keeps them away from being sick and missing days of school and this program helps them stay focused with full attention using their brain. Cons include: The no child left behind act. “We investigate not only how NCLB has influenced student achievement, but also how it has affected education spending, instructional practice, and school organization. Given the complexity of the policy and the nature of...
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...School Breakfast and Lunch Programs The Positive Effects on Students and Families The topic of concern that I am going to address is how school breakfast and lunch programs impact the family in various ways. School meal programs, especially breakfast programs, have gotten a significant amount of attention in recent years due to the many studies that have shown the benefits of having these programs. These studies have shown that students who participate in school breakfast programs have better nutrition, less hunger, more food security, better performance in school, and the program could even improve the likelihood that students will eat breakfast on a regular basis (Bartfeld & Ryu, 2011). School breakfast and lunch programs are moving toward having a 100% participation rate, because when students who participated in the programs were analyzed and compared with the non-participation students, results showed significant differences in the categories listed above. (Moffitt, 1995). Being a Dietetics student, I am extremely aware of the importance of nutritious school meal programs because children spend most of their habit-forming years in school. Students need to develop positive breakfast and lunch choices in order to develop and maintain a healthy lifestyle in the future. As I briefly stated before, there have been studies done to compare the students who participate in school breakfast and lunch programs with the students who choose not to. The findings indicated that...
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...Assignment 2.2: The Public Needs to Know English 115 Professor Wylder The current status of school meals is that they are full of fat and do not contain enough nutritious value. There are changes that need to be made in order to preserve the health and wellbeing of the children in society. The changes to be made are in the school breakfast and lunch programs. In order to effectively change the program you have to understand the economic issues, the population that is being served and their needs, the process and the benefits of the program. One major economic issue is the rising ate of unemployment. This has forced society into a time filled with burden and stress. Unemployment forces struggling families to figure out how to feed their children with limited to no resources. This burden has caused a rise in the number of children participating in the breakfast and lunch program. The increase in participation has gone up by about 84% for free and reduced lunches alone. The participation is also rising because it is cheaper for a family to feed their child at school than it is to send their lunch (School Nutrition Association, 2008). The rising rate of participation shows that families are in dire need of assistance. The families are turning to the schools for assistance to ensure that their children have food to eat. Another economic issue that American families face today is being underemployed. Being underemployed is when you only a have part time job(s) or you take...
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...generation, to properly teach our children the rights and wrongs of life, and today, we are teaching them the wrong way to eat. Public School Lunch Programs are teaching them that processed foods, high sugar drinks and snacks, are part of a balanced diet, and this is setting up our children for a lifetime of health issues, and adding to an already elevated obesity problem in the United States. Our society, public school system, and parents themselves are setting up our children for an unhealthy lifestyle and a future of health problems by teaching them unhealthy eating habits and feeding them unhealthy food. The days are long gone of the “Farm to Table” cooking methods in our schools that our older generations depended on. Today, we rely on processed foods that are full of additives, fats and sugars. The National School Lunch Program was created by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), when President Harry S. Truman signed the National School Lunch Act in 1946. (USDA.gov 2012) When it began, it actually gave schools recipes on how to cook their meals from scratch, the same way it was being done in homes during that time. (Oliver, L. 2012) But today, the USDA does not regulate what they are serving our children, nor do they regulate how it is cooked. They are simply just a Federal Agency that provides money to schools to help...
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...School Breakfast and Lunch Programs The Positive Effects on Students and Families The topic of concern that I am going to address is how school breakfast and lunch programs impact the family in various ways. School meal programs, especially breakfast programs, have gotten a significant amount of attention in recent years due to the many studies that have shown the benefits of having these programs. These studies have shown that students who participate in school breakfast programs have better nutrition, less hunger, more food security, better performance in school, and the program could even improve the likelihood that students will eat breakfast on a regular basis (Bartfeld & Ryu, 2011). School breakfast and lunch programs are moving toward having a 100% participation rate, because when students who participated in the programs were analyzed and compared with the non-participation students, results showed significant differences in the categories listed above. (Moffitt, 1995). Being a Dietetics student, I am extremely aware of the importance of nutritious school meal programs because children spend most of their habit-forming years in school. Students need to develop positive breakfast and lunch choices in order to develop and maintain a healthy lifestyle in the future. As I briefly stated before, there have been studies done to compare the students who participate in school breakfast and lunch programs with the students who choose not to. The findings indicated that...
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...Nancy Christine Foreman ENG 115-English Composition November 25, 2012 The current status of school meals is that they are full of fat and do not contain enough nutritious value, so in order to preserve the health and well being of the children in our society, there needs to be changes in the school breakfast and lunch programs. The first section of the paper will discuss the economic issues. The middle portions will examine the needs of the population being served along with the process that is involved in implementing the program. The final part will elaborate on the benefits of the program. A major economic issue that the people of society face today is the rising rate of unemployment. The rising rate of unemployment has caused society into a time filled with burden. The burden occurs when the unemployed families have to figure out how to feed their children. This burden has caused a rise in the number of children participating in the breakfast and lunch program. The increase in participation has gone up by about 84 % for free and reduced lunches alone. The participation is also rising because it is cheaper for a family to feed their child at school than it is to send their lunch (School Nutrition Association, 2008). The rising rate of participation shows that families are in dire need of assistance. The families are turning to the schools for assistance to ensure that their children have food to eat. Another economic issue that ...
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...the School Breakfast and Lunch Mercy Becky 11- 02-2013 Abstract The present and future wellbeing of children is affected by the type of food they eat. Since children get most of their calorie intake from school lunch and breakfast, schools contribute to their lifelong health and dietary patterns. Schools have to be models for healthy eating habits. Improving school meal program is very crucial in our children nutrition and health. Especially as childhood obesity is a big concern in our nation and it is a cause for many chronic illnesses like type 2 diabetes, blood pressure and high cholesterol. Different studies and researches have shown that school meals are risk factors for childhood obesity. In an effort to stop obesity and the associated health risks, the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act (HHFKA) was signed into law by President Barack Obama to change School Lunch Program (SLNP) and School Breakfast Program (SBP). The Law requires USDA to establish science based nutrition standards for all foods sold in schools during the school day. With the law signed there are different issues that come with it including the economic situation, the health of the population being served and the process and benefits of the program. Nutrition and Health: The Recent Changes into the School Lunch and Breakfast One of the issues related with the recent change in school lunch and breakfast is the economic situation. The government increased 6 cents per meal reimbursement for school lunch...
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...breakfast and lunch school from what we have? It is important as parents are very concern about what their children have at school for breakfast and lunch. This topic is become sensitive and brought it up to majority by the First Lady, Michelle Obama at Parklawn Elementary School in Alexandria, Virginia as she claimed that she was worried about the food at school as she tried to prepare healthy food for her children (Nixon, 2012.) Moreover changing the breakfast and lunch program can come from many reasons: economic, population, and benefits. In this economy hard time, parents who never have any problem about putting money in pocket might find themselves struggling with financial problem. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, unemployment has steadily risen and reaching 6.7% in November 2008 and also food and energy prices have increased dramatically throughout. As the bad economic continue the more unemployment will grow larger. Due to financial situation, parents are more apply for the breakfast and lunch program. As reported over the last five years the rates have increased annually by 2.5% to 4.1% (Siegel, 2010) and the higher the student participation rates, the higher the amounts of reimbursement the school receives. As shown in the following picture, there is an increase of free and reducing meals only paid meals are decreased. Saved by the Lunch Bell: As Economy Sinks, School Nutrition Program Participation Rises., December 2008 by School Nutrition Association ...
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... School Lunch Programs With the new and improved “heathier” lunch menu most students and teachers would rather turn down this free meal, and head over to their next period class instead. Others see this change to be remarkable and a great way to help kids balance what they eat. Since this act passed in 2010 and was sponsored by first lady Michelle Obama the disputation of a healthier menu has been a nonstop argument between schools and the NCLP (National School Lunch Program). With nothing but good intentions involved most students would rather stick to their bad eating habits. Trading in those fried potato wedges for a whole wheat sub was not so easy for some, and the controversy of a healthy school menu aroused quickly. Kids and even staff seemed uneasy about the change and thought it was a bit drastic. With unhealthy lunch and snacking taking from kids, they look at lunch to be a disadvantage to get rejuvenated for next two to three classes. Most kids are no longer waiting for the bell to dismiss for lunch anymore because of the unappetizing school menu. With nothing but good intentions involved with changing the schools menu kids feel otherwise. National School Lunch Programs thought the idea of what you do should balance out with what you eat and that idea should apply to students as well. Knowing students have no in school activities that requires major movement like running, jumping, etc. Their school lunch now reflects that. Students look at lunch as their...
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...Introduction The changes in the national breakfast and lunch programs have many benefits to children's health because they positively influence their diets by balancing some of their favorite foods with healthier alternatives. Throughout this paper, my intent is to describe to you in detail the benefits of these programs and the process that is involved in implementing them within the school district, as well as to talk about some of the challenges that may be faced with the adoption of such a program. The Process and Benefits The USDA describes the national breakfast and lunch programs as federally assisted meal programs which seek to provide low-cost or free lunches to public school children across the country every single day. For taking part in these programs, our school district would receive subsidies and also food provided to us for every meal by the US Department of Agriculture. These meals would need to meet certain health standards that are determined by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which currently seeks to increase the intake of items such as fruits and vegetables as well as whole grains within these school meals. Along with the inclusion of more healthy ingredients, there are also specific caloric and sodium intake standards that we would need to adhere to as well. These limits are determined by the age of the children who are being served and would be different for each age group. Although this may seem to limit the freedom that we have within the...
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